Klobasa [Czech Sausage]

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 7:47 pm

My home town of Yukon, Oklahoma was founded in 1891, two years after the 1889 land run and the birth of our state. Any claims to fame Yukon has are fairly tenuous. In 1949, Grady the Cow got stuck in a silo (it ended up on the cover of both Time and Life Magazines -- slow new month, I suspect). Garth Brooks was born here. The Chisolm Trail ran through Yukon, and Main Street is also Route 66.

Yukon is also the Czech capitol of Oklahoma. We have a sister city in Czechoslovakia and everything (Krnov). Every kid in Yukon writes to a pen pal there at least once during elementary school. Every kid in Yukon also attends the Czech Festival.

The Czech Festival takes place on the first Saturday of every October (which is a bummer because there's a Bigfoot Festival that same weekend that I would really like to go to). Czech Day starts at 10 o'clock sharp with a parade that lasts somewhere between one and two hours. The minute the parade ends, food row opens.

I have heard that food row used to only consist of Czech food, although today it is mostly filled with food trucks from the fair. There are giant turkey legs, Indian tacos, BBQ, corn dogs, funnel cakes, cotton candy, and all kinds of things that have nothing to do with Czechs. If you pass all those places like I did this year, you'll find the Czech food.

I should say that the most common thing associated with Czech Day are kolaches. They are pastries with filling in the middle -- usually cherry or apple pie filling, sometimes cream cheese, with icing on top. They are simple to make and you would think that people would make and sell them year round, but no -- we only make and sell them that day (and they sell thousands and thousands of them) and then we all sit around for 364 days waiting for Czech Day to buy them again.

This year I decided to pass on the Indian taco and try Klobasa (Czech sausage) with a side of potato pancakes.

Klobasa is beef and pork sausage cut kind of course and thick, with pepper and garlic mixed in. Usually the same places selling them are also selling brats. I'm not sure how authentic this is, but my klobasa were served on a bun and came with sauerkraut and horseradish. They also offer it sliced with horseradish and BBQ sauce. The sausage is thick, but not gristly.

There are lots of ways to make potato pancakes. I'm used to Polish-style from getting them in Chicago, but these were a little different. They were definitely not as thick as the ones I've had up north, although maybe that's just because they came from a food truck.

I haven't been able to find any local Czech restaurants that are open here year 'round, but good news -- next year's Czech Festival is only 363 days away!

Jizaboz · Post by **Jizaboz** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 8:13 am

Man that stuff looks great. I bet grilled onions and would go good on one of those dogs.

Also, what is an "Indian taco?"

RealNC · Post by **RealNC** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 11:20 am

Well, they know their sausages. And their porn stars. Top notch on both of those.

Jizaboz · Post by **Jizaboz** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 12:41 pm

Huh. Come to think of it yeah.. there are a lot of Czech girls in porn. *cough* Not that I'm an expert or anything ya know

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 4:07 pm

Jizaboz wrote:Huh. Come to think of it yeah.. there are a lot of Czech girls in porn. *cough* Not that I'm an expert or anything ya know

Now I get to add my 0.02 Euros. What did they call abortions in Czechslovakia?

Cancelled Czechs.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 4:22 pm

Seriously?

THE
BLANCHE KNOTT
AARDVARK

RealNC · Post by **RealNC** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 5:03 pm

I don't get it :-P

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 5:15 pm

Jizaboz wrote:Man that stuff looks great. I bet grilled onions and would go good on one of those dogs.

Also, what is an "Indian taco?"

An Indian Taco is a big piece of frybread covered in the stuff you would expect to see on a taco: beans, beef, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and usually black olives.

I have also heard them called Navajo Tacos before. I asked a Navajo friend of mine one time if he used to eat these as a kid. He said yes, Navajos eat a lot of deep fried bread. I said really? He said no you stupid white boy, we ate Taco Bell and cheese sandwiches. Navajo people can be really mean and sarcastic.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 5:43 pm

Is that similar to kielbasa? Cause man I'm gettin' all hungry now.

THE
CENTRAL EUROPEAN
AARDVARK

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 6:05 pm

They're all beef and pork (I think), with slight differences in texture and spices.

This website talks about the difference between "klobasse, klobása, kielbasa, and kolbász" (Austrian, Czech, Hungarian and Polish sausages). I'd hate to try and tell them apart blindfolded.

Or naked -- ZING!

http://www.kolarsky.com/family/cookbook/klobasa.htm

gsdgsd · Post by **gsdgsd** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 6:39 pm

Man I envy you. I'd kill for some good Czech food out here. Boulder/Denver have an oddly high number of Czech restaurants and bars -- odd because there's not a lot of Czech immigrant history out there -- but they've all popped up since I moved away.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 6:58 pm

With such a large Czech population here (I used to live off of Czech Hall Drive), you would think we would have more permanent Czech restaurants. I can't think of any, other than Kolache Kitchen, which is (spoiler) desserts only. I did find out about a food truck called Czech Delights recently but haven't tracked it down yet.

I've been to a couple of places in Chicago that combine Polish and Czech food. To be honest I'm not familiar with either one enough to tell them apart.